Design

Morning Roundup: December 10, 2012

Daily digest of architecture news and debate from all around.

A view from the north crane at the top of One WTC, courtesy of @WTCProgress.

Good morning, architects. Ian Volner spent the weekend in Miami and got a preview of the new Miami Art Museum by Herzog & de Meuron. If the reaction to 1111 Lincoln Road is any indication, Miami residents are thrilled with the work of Herzog & de Meuron. That doesn't mean the feeling is mutual. Volner says that Herzog & de Mueron means for the Miami Art Museum to be something of a corrective to what the firm perceives as Miami vices: over-dependence on Art Deco and over-reliance on air conditioning.

LONG NIGHTS. Writing for The Atlantic, Matthew O'Brien hazards a guess as to why construction jobs are falling even as housing starts are improving: construction workers are working longer hours. Now, how does this work? If new housing starts were growing and construction employment was growing at pace or even simply maintaining, that would indicate increased productivity. But for construction workers to lose jobs even as housing starts begin to rise suggests that either construction workers are making radical gains in productivity, or something else is going on.